Can Psyllium Be Taken While Fasting?

Do you fast periodically? Fasting is done by many people mainly for religious reasons. Some other people fast for cleaning their body. Whatever may be the reason one question which might pop up in your mind is whether you can take Psyllium while fasting. How would the body react to Psyllium when the stomach is empty? Let us try to answer this question in this post.

Effect of Fasting on the Body?

Whether you do fasting for religious reason or for removing toxins, the effect on the body will be determined by the length of fasting. Many people fast just for one meal while some other can fast for two meals of more. In some extreme cases people also fast for around 24 hours taking just milk or water. There are many benefits associated with fasting which includes Spiritual awakening, improved digestion system and removal of toxins from the blood and cells.

You may ask, why is the body able to detox while fasting? The answer to this question is when we fast the body does not needs to use its energy for digestion and moving the food through the intestines. It is also not taking in any new nutrients which need to be filtered or cleaned. This energy which is saved is used by the body to do repairs inside itself and pick out the toxins from the cells.

How Does Psyllium Intake Affect Your Fasting?

So what happens when you take Psyllium while fasting. There are two situations here. In some people there is lot of dirt or old feces which are sticking to the their intestines. If you are one of these type of people you would be constipated regularly and your stool will be smelly. For these kinds of people, taking Psyllium during fasting is good. The Psyllium can gently scrape of the sticky substances from the intestines and clean it. Hence making it healthier during the process. Since you are fasting and no other food is taken, you can get yourself cleaned more easily.

The second situation is when you have relatively clean intestines and bowel. This is indicated by clean motions and smooth bowel movements almost everyday. If you do not need to spend more than few minutes in the toilet then you are in this category. In such cases Psyllium may not be needed or suitable. Taking Psyllium during fasting for such people will slow down the detox process as part of the body’s energy will be used in processing Psyllium. Hence you should avoid taking Psyllium when falling in this category. However, you should remember that you can also used Psyllium for detoxification on purpose also. For more details read this article.

If you are taking Psyllium for weight loss then also you should not take it during fasting. It is more suitable during your normal eating periods.